Fantastic!

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is an absorbing, exciting and thoroughly entertaining British POW drama which has a cast that reads like a veritable who's who of British character actors. Not one of them disappoints either, and there are especially sterling performances from Richard Todd, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough. In fact, it's a perfectly casted film which holds attention throughout, and has a plot which moves along nicely to a clever and quite novel conclusion. Although there are scores of similar films made on the subject, this is definitely one of the very best and, anyone who has not yet seen it will not be disappointed. Highly recommended!

It gets the high score it deserves for daring to be different in so many ways.Yes, its a POW film. Yes, their trying to escape.So why is it so different?Their jailers are the Italians who we so rarely see in POW films. We have a murder mystery, a Who Done It to solve! We also have a spy in the camp revealing the escape plans to the Italians.It's a pretty good name cast with Richard Todd, Richard Attenborough and William Franklyn as the more notable names.The film looks good, it's well scripted and you have an excellent bad guy in Benucci, the Italian Camp Commander.The great storyline that they find the man they think is the spy dead in a tunnel which totally throws them off starts the who done it. It also stops them thinking about spies until they do reveal who the actual traitor is (I won't spoil that for you).The ending after the escape is a tad weak, I would have liked to have watched more of their escape once they were outside the camp.Overall its a very decent movie for its age. Thumbs up and recommended to those who like their War or POW films.

Just watched it on Channel 4 and loved it, very good cast and overall very enjoyable.Full of great actors including Richard Attenborough and Tony Todd A bit different from the usual escape movies, in that there's some intrigue and tension caused by a informer within the British ranks this results in the deaths of 4 British prisoners before they finally work out who it is.I do like the 50/60 British films and this is another that i will definitely watch again.

It never ceases to amaze me the truly wonderful films that you find if you venture from the mainstream. This is one of the greatest finds I have come across in a while.A classic cast of Richard Todd, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, Vincent Ball and Dennis Price are holed up in a Prisoner of War camp in Italy. They struggle against a sadistic camp Capitano (Peter Arne), the impending threat of a German takeover of the camp, internal personal clashes and a traitor in their midst as they try to escape. It sounds like heavy going but with a tight, often witty script and magnificent performances this is simply rivetting viewing. Richard Todd and Richard Attenborough (both underrated actors) especially shine out for their performances.And there is the bonus of seeing a frighteningly young and skinny Michael Caine in a bit part!